Jealousy
by Helin
Summary: It's not easy being a big brother. EO.


The rays from the sun caressed the little boy's skin. Spending the afternoon in the park was as close to nature as he would get this summer, but what does that matter for a 3-yr old with a new bike? He proudly parked it beside the bench his mother sat on and gazed up at her for approval.

"Nice parking, David." she smiled, one hand rocking the stroller where Adam was sleeping. Usually he liked his baby brother, mostly cos it meant he was a BIG brother. Adam was at his peak when sleeping, according to David, since he then couldn't steal any attention from his parents. Having two siblings at the age of three had made him _slightly _competetive and even though he continously tried to impress the rest of the family by being a 'good boy', it was sometimes hard at recently turned three.

His parents were looking at each other, talking. Dad was touching mom's hand now, he could tell they were talking about something else than him. He sighed and turned his attention to Julia who had succesfully climbed up at her tricycle and happily held onto the steering, her green eyes glittering. Stupid Julia. He couldn't help feeling jealous and angry that she'd managed to get onto her bike by herself, knowing he had a hard time getting on his dear birthday present.

"Where are you going, Julia? El, get the camera!" he suddenly heard. It was his mother's voice, filled with laughter. He noticed a flash and his sister giggled happily. That was it. Tears started forming in his eyes, quickly starting to fall. He made his way up to his little sister, stopped right before her and grabbed the steering with all his strength and pushed it aside. He could hear his dad angrily calling out while Julia was still in the air falling. With a, to David, extremely loud sound the bike and his sister fell to the ground. Within seconds he felt a strong hand grip his upper arm and a deep voice starting yelling at him. He could only hear Julia's cries, though, watching his mother picking her up.

"Is she bleeding?" Elliot angrily asked his wife, seeing Julia's red lips.

Blood! What if she… died?

"I think she bit her lip…"

No…

----

He was hiding behind the couch, keeping his hands over his eyes. Hopefully he wouldn't be found. The little boy wasn't scared of being punished, he rarely was, but didn't like the idea of having to see his sister and be reminded of what he'd done. He'd pushed her. His little sister. She had bit her lip and there'd been blood. She was crying and it was his fault.

"David?"

His little body curled up even more. He was gonna stay there forever. Forever! There was no way he could forget, so why would his parents? He knew Michael had told him, when they met at the swings at the playground, that his dad had spanked him cos he'd been bad. He wasn't stupid, hiding from the family, he knew what could happen… When the Stablers had made their way home it had been a quiet walk. Very quiet.

Footsteps came closer and closer until they stopped and someone leaned over the couch. Unless it was Santa or Tigger David had no intention of taking notice.

"Hey... Are you gonna come out and take a bath?"

Yeah, he did want to take a bath. With the yellow duck. He peeked up through his fingers, meeting his mom's brown eyes. She didn't look angry. He could feel her fingers touching his cheek. As she bent down to pick him up he struggled just a little, just to let her know he was anxious about what was going to happen. He was carried through the living room, passing Adam playing with the baby gym, completey unaware of the drama that afternoon. Before they entered the bathroom he was able to peek into the kitchen really fast. Dad was there, sitting on the kitchen table ruffling Julia's newly washed hair as she concentrated on emptying her sippy cup.

"Are you a punk rocker, huh? Are ya?!"

David smiled nervously. He was a rock star, too. Every evening before bedtime.

The bath went quickly. No duck. And it was quiet. As he was helped into his blue pyjamas his mom finally started to talk. To say the words he'd been wating for. And fearing.

"Daddy and I want to talk to you…"

-------

He felt bad about having to see his son crying nervously, too well aware of what he'd done, but they had agreed on talking to him. Telling him it wasn't OK to push or fight. Never. _Ahem, well, not for kids…_ He wasn't the best role model, he knew that, but he wanted his kids to be able to solve problems without violence, without losing their temper. They could be angry, sure, but not without losing control. Like Olivia. He let her do the talk. At least the first part of it. He'd done it so many times and had no problem in doing it, but he enjoyed listening to her calm and soft voice, no matter what kind of words she delivered. He didn't pay much attention to them, to be honest. Just watched her full lips move and gently kissed their son's hair as the little boy carefully listened and relaxed in his mother's arms.

"So, no hitting, OK?" she ended.

Good talk! I think…

"No hit Julia." their son stated clearly.

"Or anyone else". Olivia added.

"Yeh".

---

After kissing their oldest goodnight they went into the kitchen where Elliot started cleaning after the kids' dinner and his wife made them a cup of tea. He couldn't believe they were living like this. As a family. Three kids, who _usually_ behaved nicely. The housework hadn't been the same when he was married to Kathy. This time, in this marriage, he gladly did it. Now he didn't _help_. He simply took care of his part of the work. This time he wasn't a stranger in his own house, in his own family. He didn't have to ask his wife wether his daugter needed a coat or not when they went outside – he just knew. He placed the little plastic plate in the sink and brushed up against Olivia's right hip as he did so.

"What flavour would you like?" she smiled and reached up to take down the jar with the tea bags. She opened the lid and pulled out a bag with a yellow label for herself. When he didn't answer she turned and looked up to him.

"If you knew how much I love you…" he said softly and stroked her wavy hair.

"Um. I. I love you too" she stammered as he tilted her chin up and bent down to kiss her.

They often kissed, but usually it was just a quick kiss when they found the time, when there were no kids to chase after and no laundry to be done or… They often made out before they'd had David and with time they had less and less time to just enjoy each other. Now they took the time, though. Kissed. Tasted. Moaned. Felt. Amazing. After ten minutes they let go of each other.

"You've never made me doubt you, El." she sighed.

"Lemon" he said and kissed her forehead.


End file.
